Madonna del Rosario a Selva Nera
'''Madonna del Rosario a Selva Nera '''is a late 20th century subsidiary parish church at Largo Ines Bedeschi, in the suburb of Selva Nera west of the Grande Raccordo Anulare (Circonvallazione Settentrionale). This is in the Casalotti zone. The dedication is to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title of Our Lady of the Rosary. This church is in the municipality of Rome, but belongs to the diocese of Porto Santa Rufina. History The little church was provided in the later 20th century as a subsidiary Mass centre for the parish of ''Natività di Maria Santissima, ''because the main church (now Santi Martiri di Selva Candida) is in the neighbouring suburb of Selva Candida. Exterior Layout and fabric This is actually quite a substantial building, being stone-built with detailing in brick. The plan involves a single rectangular nave of five bays, and a small semi-circular external apse. Abutting the entire length of the right hand nave wall is an ancillary wing, at the end of which is a tower campanile. The left hand wall has a wide side entrance, beyond which are three large vertical rectangular windows with their sills at ground level. The apse has an interesting fenestration in the form of a Latin cross with four little square windows in the angles. The exterior walls are rendered in a creamy white. The main roof is gabled and tiled, with a substantial overhang. The apse has its own tiled roof, in five sectors. The ancillary wing has its own single-pitched roof, slightly lower than the gutter of the main roof. Campanile The tower campanile has a triangular plan, with the point of the triangle pointing at the apse and the other two angles chamfered. The structure seems to be in white concrete, with brick pilasters running up the chamfer and with a gabled and tiled transverse cap. The bells are in a tall gap in the structure just to the right of the left hand angle. Façade The gabled roof is extended over the frontage to form a floating top canopy. The façade itself has a pair of brick pilasters flush with the corners, and a pair of brick piers flanking the single entrance and running up to the roof. A pair of right-angled triangular windows are fitted under the rooflines next to these, and these have a pair of concrete beams as sills. The entrance is protected by its own canopy, a floating horizontal concrete slab, the shallow fascia of which is occupied by a row of vertical bricks. The doors have a large cross in wood, and are otherwise in glass. The façade in between the entrance piers and corner pilasters has a pair of tall, thin rectangular windows with brick frames, and these reach to the sills of the triangular windows. The wall surfaces around these are in the creamy white colour. In between the central piers, above the entrance, is a large window taking up the available space. It has a cross motif echoing that displayed by the doors. The church stands slightly away from the street, and the entrance is approached by a rectangular stepped cobbled ramp of three steps. Interior Fabric The small interior shows the random rubble construction of the side walls, in tufo stone. Each wall is topped by seven courses of brick, on which is laid a deep course of concrete into which stone corbels are inserted which support the transverse roof-beams. The roof is open, with triangular trusses formed by these beams. The left hand side wall has a large near entrance rising to the brick courses, and three rectangular windows framed in brick. These windows are joined by a string-course of two courses of brick laid in the stone rubble. The right hand side wall has a near entrance into the parish offices, and the windows are mirrored by two niches and a further entrance. The sanctuary now occupies the far end of the nave, on a platform with two steps up. The seating of the liturgical ministers curves around the inside of the apse, which does not have a triumphal arch but a triangular-topped portal instead. It has its own open timber roof. A pair of little sacristies on a square plan occupy the far corners of the nave, flanking the apse portal. They were created by inserting stone walls, with the doorways facing each other across the sanctuary. Fittings The two rectangular niches in the right hand side wall contain polychrome statues, of St Anthony of Padua and Our Lady of the Rosary (with the Christ-child holding one). The unusual Stations of the Cross have ceramic tondi reliefs on rectangular backing plaques. There is a large painting of the Madonna and Child on the near wall of the right hand sacristy. The tabernacle is in the near wall of the left hand sacristy, and has a square silver bas-relief depiction of ''The Supper at Emmaus ''surrounded by a glory made of shards of orange glass. The apse windows have stained glass depicting ''The Crucifixion, ''with the ''Symbols of the Evangelists ''in the four small square windows surrounding it. Liturgy Mass is celebrated (parish website, June 2018): Weekdays 16:30 (17:30 in summer); Sundays and Solemnities 9:00. External links Parish web-page Info.roma web-pageCategory:Catholic churches Category:Outside the walls - North-West Category:Parish churches Category:Dedications to the Blessed Virgin Mary Category:20th century Category:Diocese of Porto Santa Rufina